The
dissolution of the monasteries and the dispersal of many religious orders
in England during the mid-to late 1530s was due almost entirely to Henry
VIII's wrangle with the Catholic Church in Rome. Henry wished to obtain
a divorce from his first wife, Katharine of Aragon, so he could marry
Anne Boleyn. Having failed to persuade the Pope to grant him his divorce,
Henry seized control of the Church in England (resulting eventually
in the Anglican Church), cutting its ties to Rome and creating himself
as its supreme head.
Once
in control of the Church (and obtaining his divorce in short order thereafter),
Henry turned his attention to the vast lands and wealth held by the
various religious orders within England. Aided and abetted by Parliament,
Henry dissolved most of the religious orders and seized their lands,
keeping some for himself, but selling the majority on to the middle
classes and nobility of England (the now homeless monks and nuns received
a lifelong pension so long as they swore allegiance to Henry as supreme
head of the Church).
The
dissolution impacted all over the country, but particularly in London
where so many religious orders had their English base. Their lands and
goods passed into crown hands and from there into private ownership.
The various religious orders of monks, friars and nuns had been an important
part of London life. From the mid-sixteenth century they had gone forever,
and with them vanished the last remaining vestiges of the medieval world
from London streets.
The
illustration above is taken from a fifteenth-century minature called
"The Fortress of Faith", showing the Church under attack from
secular quarters.
